This invention relates generally to emergency preparedness in schools and other institutional or business settings, and more particularly to a system that is seamlessly integrated with existing or new private branch exchange (PBX) systems to provide various monitoring and notification features related to emergency calls routed through the PBX system.
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The need for security in schools is at an all time high. Designers of communication infrastructures are beginning to re-focus on enhancements with practical functionality. The present invention leverages many years of integration experience, and an understanding of the K-12 school marketplace into a product offering referred to as the School Observation and Supervisory (SOS) System.
The present invention, referred to herein as a School Observation and Supervisory (SOS) system is a system that is seamlessly integrated with existing or new private branch exchange (PBX) hardware to provide various monitoring and notification features related to emergency calls routed through the PBX system. The SOS system preferably interfaces to one or more of a number of PBX systems and combines their unique messaging features (message advertisements) into a single environment. It adds functionality not intrinsically available within the core feature set of any particular PBX component, and provides a converged access point for recall and playback of incidents.
Heretofore, a number of patents and publications have disclosed related features, generally associated with public emergency 9-1-1 services, the relevant portions of which may be briefly summarized as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,246,752 discloses a system and method for monitoring a telephone switching environment. The system combines recording of telephone call information from at least two sources (e.g., computer telephony integration (CTI) and station message detail recording (SMDR)) to form a call record. While there appears to be a teaching of robust call monitoring and recording in a PBX system, there does not appear to be a teaching related to the automated recording based upon a trigger signal generated by a 9-1-1 or another emergency call.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,570 teaches a similar system, where a master call record is compiled by the system based upon information provided by the PBX. Moreover, the master call record may include a link or pointer to a data file containing the actual call recording.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,571 describes a telephone management system. In particular, the system disclosed is an integrated software system that manages a telephone system, including voicemail and 9-1-1 emergency systems. A key feature of the system is that it integrates, and updates, various databases that may be employed in a telephone management system, so as to operate as if there were only a single database.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a facility observation and supervisory system to be used by a facility for monitoring, reporting, and notification of certain telephone calls, comprising: a PBX system having a plurality of telephone sets operatively connected thereto; and a computer platform interconnected with, and operating as an interface to, the PBX system, wherein the computer platform includes preprogrammed software to record, on-demand, calls passing through the PBX system, and trace calls, wherein enablement of the call tracing is completed in an undetected manner.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an emergency call notification system for communicating emergency call information to notification recipients, comprising: a PBX system; a controller operating in accordance with preprogrammed software, said controller being interconnected to said PBX system via a private communication bridge, said bridge obtaining identifying information from the PBX system regarding at least an emergency call; said controller further storing and operating a location database suitable for identifying, based upon the identifying information from the PBX system, the location of the telephone placing the emergency call; said controller further storing and operating a notification database, the database including data corresponding to at least one notification recipient, the database being accessible by the controller software to provide notification recipient data to facilitate controller contact with at least one notification recipient and providing emergency call identifying information as well as telephone location information.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a school observation and supervisory system, comprising: a PBX system; a controller, interconnected to a back plane of said PBX system to monitor any emergency calls passing through the PBX system, wherein the controller executes at least one of the functions selected from the group consisting of:
a call record function, wherein the system shall record a call from any such configured telephone set on the PBX,
a malicious call trace function, wherein the system shall initiate a trace of an incoming call from any telephone line connected to the PBX,
an internal 9-1-1 notification function, wherein; the system shall provide, for in-building notification of any extension dialing an emergency number, (a) notification (audible and visual), in multiple locations via multiple mediums, of an emergency call having been placed, (b) exact station location that dialed the emergency call, identified by extension number, user name, time of call and trunk line accessed to dial call, and (c) a call log; and
where upon termination of a call, the system provides access to review the data collected.
One aspect of the invention is based on the observation of problems with conventional PBX and telephone company equipmentxe2x80x94the lack of information that is available or provided regarding emergency calls placed from or received by private telephone equipment such as PBXs. One aspect of the present invention is based on the discovery of a technique that alleviates these problems by providing a communications bridge and intelligent processing of data available from conventional PBX systems. Moreover, such a system preferably operates seamlessly and in a xe2x80x9cstealthxe2x80x9d mode so as to not only avoid interference with emergency calls but also to avoid detection of the presence of monitoring, recording or tracing operations. This technique may be implemented, for example, by using a conventional computer platform that is interfaced to a PBX in order to provide a communications link between the PBX and the computer platform. A machine implementing the invention can include pre-existing or new PBX equipment, by using available communication and control ports. Hence, the cost to implement such a system may be minimized (only incremental cost of the SOS system), as would be the time required to implement
The techniques described herein are advantageous because they provide an inexpensive solution to emergency call monitoring, tracing and they provide additional information to emergency personnel via conventional PBX equipment. Aspects of the present invention make it unnecessary for schools and other institutional and business facilities to purchase and install dedicated emergency reporting systems. The present invention can be adapted to any of a number of existing PBX systems, enabling the expansion of system functionality to include one or more of the features described here; particularly including monitoring and notification of emergency 9-1-1 calls placed from a PBX system and self diagnostics. The techniques of the invention are advantageous because they permit improved monitoring and notification of emergency situations, particularly in schools. As a result of the invention, the functionality of existing and newly installed PBX systems can be greatly expanded.